BrewerJoe

Ah, so like many of the other things I've been trying to get smart on - it's totally unpredictable, makes little sense, and often RC's own staff doesn't understand it!  Gotcha.

Ah, so like many of the other things I've been trying to get smart on - it's totally unpredictable, makes little sense, and often RC's own staff doesn't understand it!  Gotcha.

We're sailing on Harmony out of Port Canaveral this summer and I'm printing out my SetSail passes tonight.  I noticed that my wife and kids have a green 'Expedited Arrival' bar at the top of their's and I do not.  Any idea why they'd have it and I wouldn't?  Does it make any difference?
I'm picturing myself downtrodden in a long non-moving line while they're all smiles waltzing right onto the ship!

Ah, so like many of the other things I've been trying to get smart on - it's totally unpredictable, makes little sense, and often RC's own staff doesn't understand it!  Gotcha.

We're sailing on Harmony out of Port Canaveral this summer and I'm printing out my SetSail passes tonight.  I noticed that my wife and kids have a green 'Expedited Arrival' bar at the top of their's and I do not.  Any idea why they'd have it and I wouldn't?  Does it make any difference?
I'm picturing myself downtrodden in a long non-moving line while they're all smiles waltzing right onto the ship!

We're sailing on Harmony out of Port Canaveral this summer and I'm printing out my SetSail passes tonight.  I noticed that my wife and kids have a green 'Expedited Arrival' bar at the top of their's and I do not.  Any idea why they'd have it and I wouldn't?  Does it make any difference?
I'm picturing myself downtrodden in a long non-moving line while they're all smiles waltzing right onto the ship!

I'll be on Harmony this summer.  Does the chat feature work without purchasing Voom?  Also, does it provide notifications, or do you need to open the app to notice someone contacted you?  I'm looking for a way to keep in touch with a teenager, but don't really need full internet access.

WannaCruise - Thanks for offering a different perspective on this!  The popular option seems to be to book with a TA for the customer service they're able to provide.  Reading through some posts on TA opinions, it seems that service is hit or miss depending on how well a customer jives with the TA...and in some cases is dependent on the customer having realistic expectations.  Since I kind of obsess more than I probably should about travel planning, I can see myself becoming one of those with unrealistic expectations...getting frustrated waiting for emails, doing most of the price checking legwork on my own, etc.
I think I'm going to book with RC for now and then transfer my booking within the 60 day transfer window.  Some of the big internet vendors who offer the best perks have a limit on the number of price adjustments you can make before they start charging a small fee, so maybe I'll get lucky and get a drop or two before my time runs out.  For me, I just don't think I'd get the $200+ value (in OBC/perks) out of working with a TA.  While they are working through any surprise issues, I'd probably still be stressing about the outcome.  And I would hate going to guest services for help with something and having them tell me I have to work through my TA while I'm on a ship with limited connectivity.
Thanks for everyone's opinion on this!  I really wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be walking around with a big flashing DUMMY sign for not booking through a TA.  It sounds like they are a great fit for some folks, and maybe less so for others.  I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon ?

Thanks!  That's what I was afraid of...I should have booked on Monday.
I did request a quote from MEI and am awaiting a response. 
I know a TA is free to me, but when I'm comparing the standard RC $75 OBC to offers of $300 OBC by some vendors, there's a $200+ difference to my bank account in the end (assuming the OBC is something I would have spent anyway).  So I'm trying to weight the risk/reward in my mind of one over the other.  I'm a pretty detail oriented person and feel like a competent travel planner.  I'm just not sure I would get $200 of value from a TA, unless they're able to offer something beyond the standard RC perks. I guess there would be definite value in extraordinary circumstances like a cruise being cancelled, but that has to be a fairly rare occurrence, right?